‘1600 Penn’ To Have Media Figures As Guests, But Not Politicians: TCA

NBC’s new White House comedy 1600 Penn doesn’t plan to bring in real politicians as guest stars, producers said today during the show’s lunchtime panel at TCA. Executive producers Jason Winer and Jon Lovett (a former Obama speechwriter) said they will definitely have real-life reporters and media figures as guests. Lovett and other panelists said upcoming guests may include NBC correspondent Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd of NBC News and Larry King.

The creative team also said it would take a cue from the White House drama The West Wing by not bringing very recent history into the show, which stars co-creator/co-executive producer Josh Gad as the black sheep son of the White House family (Gad was also a star of Broadway’s Book of Mormon).

The show, which also stars Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman as the President and First Lady, also has Modern Family veteran Jason Winer as executive producer along with Mike Royce. Winer acknowledged that audience will probably recognize some “Modern Family DNA inherent in the family dynamics. You will start to see this family become a warm cohesive unit.” Lovett seconded the opinion that the show is more about family than politics.

Recent Comments

I have known endured three episodes of 1600 Penn, waiting to see if the critics have figured...

Kelley

2 years

I only watched this after seeing him in an indie film which Gad was flipping awesome in...

Watching TV

2 years

K-Man, the point wasn't that Pullman is playing it straight, it's that he's doing a bad acting...

Gad said he met Winer “on the Modern Family circuit” and Winer approached him about doing a White House comedy after seeing the actor in Book of Mormon. After first joking that he took the role for the money, Gad said that at first he didn’t want to do the role of First Son Skip Gilchrist because it was too much like his Mormon role, Cunningham. “Honestly it came down the fact that if I saw anybody else play the character of Skip, I was going to be really pissed off.” Never able to resist a joke, he added: “And also a lot of the other offers didn’t come through.”

Royce addressed the fact that early reviews of the show have been mixed. “I’ve read all of the reviews…” he began to the room full of TV journalists and critics, only to be interrupted by Gad, who offered helpfully: “Some of you are dicks.”

Ignoring Gad, Royce continued, with understatement: “There is a great contingent of people I think who are not quite sold on the show. [The White House] is a big world, a world that everybody knows. We have a bit more of a hurdle to make this world our own.” In the promos for the show, he said, “Sometimes it seems the most promotable thing is the chair flying out the window. We’re trying to get to more of the family dynamics where the White House is more of a backdrop.”

Winer agreed, saying that Gad’s zany character and Bill Pullman’s uptight President character represent “an emotional odd couple at the heart of the show.”

7 Comments

watching TV • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

These guys are trying so hard to manufacture something. Everything seems so contrived and formulaic. yeah, people are just dying to tune in to see Larry King and Chuck Todd. It’s so cool and realistic, but it’s not a political show, it’s a family comedy. Greenblatt may not have his head up his ass but these people might. Sitcoms need time to gel, but the pilot showed absolutely no chemistry between the actors and surprisingly, Pullman is awful. Just way too stiff. This show is trying to be too many things while promoting itself outwardly as a family comedy that’s not about politics, but the end of the pilot had skip brokering a trade agreement and they’re promoting cameos of press people that no one cares about. Too many agendas on this show and not enough laughs. It could survive a while because NBC is losing two Thursday shows and maybe they’re banking on Michael J. Fox to revive the night and get people to watch anything for an hour and a half after him. NBC should move Go On to Thursday, renew Community and hope this pilot season produces something. 1600 Penn isn’t funny and the fact that they are relying on so many gimmicks and mixed marketing messages let’s you know it’s a disaster. And if you watch it, you’ll definitely know.

Bob • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

this show is not funny

Graham Hill • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

There’s nothing funny about politics, specially when it comes to the White House. 1600 is right not to send in the clowns, not to use real political figures. They’re on TV way too much as it is.

Some of the greatest TV comedies in history, MASH, ALL IN THE FAMILY for example, took time and tweeking to become hits. Time to today’s TV honcho’s is a mere three weeks. So, I wish 1600 the very best, as I do with any show that tries to be different!

K-man • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

I liked it and think if they give it a chance it could be a breakout hit for NBC, which is clearly back after the very long and very sad Jeff Zucker induced coma.

And I feel compelled to address Watching TV’s comment about Pullman. Pullman is a fun actor and is funny. Clearly, his role here is as a straight man. It’s like saying Abbott wasn’t funny but Costello was – without realizing that without Abbott, Costello’s shtick would not have worked. You need both sides of the coin for the full impact and the Gad-Pullman pair-up has that.

Watching TV • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

K-Man, the point wasn’t that Pullman is playing it straight, it’s that he’s doing a bad acting job of it. Bud Abbott was a brilliant straight man, Pullman is most certainly no Bud Abbott. Pullman is totally stiff like a robot. There’s no nuance to it all. he’s a talented enough actor, that if he can do a better job of it, he’d be there off the bat and wouldn’t need to work his way into it over time.
This goes back to my point about how contrived and formulaic this whole thing is. “Let’s get Pullman, he was the president, that will get attention.” “Let’s get Larry King and Chuck Todd, that will get attention.” They’re trying so hard to make people think there’s something there.

Kelley • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

I only watched this after seeing him in an indie film which Gad was flipping awesome in called she wants me, it was so quirky and real. Not the biggest fan of this humor o restyle but goes to show an actor can be versatile. He’s got a lot to go on.

Captain Pajama Shark • on Jan 6, 2013 1:05 pm

I have known endured three episodes of 1600 Penn, waiting to see if the critics have figured out the obvious reason why this show is not funny. Jenna Elfman, perfect as usual. Bill Pullman, stiff and subtle, but wouldn’t expect anything otherwise. The unpaid extras in the background making silent chatter, hoping for the chance that a Hollywood director might notice them and let them get the chance to say, “It’s Great!” in their next cereal commercial, hysterical. Josh Gad? Um, yeah. About as interesting a when people think they see a silhouette of JFK in their toast only to realize it’s really just Marlon Brando. Shift the focus way, oh so far away, from the Jack Black wanna-be and try to salvage the humor in this sitcom.